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Friday, Aug 16, 2013 06:29 PM

Doug Marrone: "Still a long way to go"

BUFFALO BILLS HEAD COACH DOUG MARRONE
Opening Statement:Obviously our goal coming in to the preseason is to win the game and our players did that today. I thought early on that our defense played very well, made some things happen. Offensively, I think that we had some tough field position. Shot ourselves the foot with penalties again and that's going to be something we need to address and take control of that. Thought that Kevin (Kolb) did a nice job at the end, coming in and making sure that we scored, and got some points, so that was a good job there. Then obviously we took the first drive of the second half, went down the field. I thought that was important. I was hoping that we could come back again with that type of effort, we didn't, we stalled out a little bit, but again we won the game. Still got a long way to go, we got a lot of things to work on. All of us: myself, the coaches and the players.

Q: Would you agree that Kevin Kolb got off to a rough start tonight?

A: I think he probably got off to the same start as EJ got in to last game. I think the goal for that and I think it's tough when you come in to those games and you're first time you come in to it you want to get in that rhythm. If you don't, once you get in to it you have to find a way to get the quarterback in to it. We did later on and he was able to move us down the field.

Q: What can you say about the defense and how it established its identity?
A: Well they had some miscues with the snaps, credit to the fans. I'm excited about that. I played in some tough venues and I really think that has a lot to do with it. Hopefully we can keep that up. Defensively, I think that we've tried to establish an identity with the defense right from day one. We still have a lot to improve on; we're a little late on some of them. Need to disguise them a little bit better. Again, I like that type of effort from them. They made some things happen. They batted down a lot of balls; we had the miscues there. I was very happy with the defense. They were excellent on third down. I think the big thing I look for is the adversity, we wound up throwing an interception, the defense comes on the field, and they miss a field goal. I think that's big because the defense takes the field and the mentality is they're going to have to earn points.

Q: It looked like when EJ Manuel was in there the tempo seemed to go up some. Any comments on that?
A: Well I think when you have incomplete passes it's a little bit tougher to move because the players are coming from down the field when you're throwing the ball down the field and players are running from up there. You're saying the tempo of the offense was quicker? Yeah, I think (because of) the completions. The completions were down the field and the offensive line was running that way anyways and able to get up there. I think you'll see that throughout the year most of the time when that happens.

Q: You gave your regular personnel a long look in the first half with the fullback. Obviously that was the plan going in to the game and do you see that continuing?
A: Not to give away any secrets or what we'll do in the future, but they were a predominantly cover two team and they're a very good team up front. Knowing that we wanted to do some things and get some more looks at the 21-personnel and get Frank (Summers) in there. Look and work on some of the plays that we haven't been able to work on as much. Then we tried to get the ball vertically down field and I'm sure you guys saw there were a lot of check downs. It was difficult because of the coverage, they're not going to let you get something down there. Those safeties were coming off the hash, playing deep. That's why you saw a lot of check downs early on. It wasn't from the lack of us not calling plays to try to get vertically down the field.

Q: Is Mario Williams OK?
A; Yeah we rested him today and we rested Kiko (Alonso) today. We're trying to make sure that we're being smart, getting them ready. I'm looking forward to a lot of players coming back next week; we'll see how that goes in practice. The only player that I was informed off that we've lost from the game, we'll see the evaluation tomorrow, was Kevin Elliott. I'm assuming you guys saw that. Pretty much it's just a couple bumps and bruises. We've been fortunate from that end. From the injury standpoint.

Q: How was Jerry Hughes today?
A: Outstanding. It's funny, he played last week and obviously he came from Indianapolis. One of the things I told him this week was a lot of times people play well against the teams that they were on prior to. I said it's going to be interesting this week to see who you are. Are you going to be able to play with the same intensity, play with that same production and he did, he probably had more production.

Q: How did that sack on the first play of the game set the tone for the game?
A: I think anytime you can get momentum going, it's a game of momentum and you've just got to try to keep it. When that momentum tries to swing, you want to go ahead and make a play.

Q: Going in to Week Three, did anything happen tonight that would contribute to your decision on who the quarterback will be against Washington?
A: I haven't looked at a plan for game three yet, honestly. I've been doing that throughout the thing with the players because here's what happens--you get a plan and then you practice through the week and someone gets nicked or injured and the all of the sudden you've got to make changes. I wait until we get closer to the game before I start making plans on what we're doing.

Q: Marcus Easley and Chris Hogan seemed to get a lot of time in the absence of the other receivers. Do you have any thoughts on those two?
A: I think again those guys have done a nice job in training camp, they've done a good job in special teams. They got a lot of looks out there tonight, so again the more we can put them on tape the better they can get and develop. Marcus was out for a bit of time; Hogan has been very productive for us, so I just think it's a matter of having those guys out there. It's going to be some tough decisions to make down the road on the receivers with the numbers. We've got some pretty good players and guys that are playing well at that receiver position.

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